A woman who suffered a devastating 18 miscarriages has described her joy at
giving birth to the baby she had longed for after being referred to a "pioneering"
doctor.

Angie Baker, 33, and her partner Lee Gibson spent 13 years trying to have a child before their daughter finally arrived weighing a healthy 7lb.

Angie Baker with her baby daughter, 10-week-old Raiya Gibson

Raiya, who was born on December 9 last year, is now a thriving 10-week-old girl.

"She's my little miracle. I can't explain how I feel. I'm overwhelmed. It seems like a dream and I still have to pinch myself. She's perfect in every way," said Miss Baker, from Peacehaven near Brighton.

Doctors told her it was "just one of those things" and with Mr Gibson, 31, a martial arts instructor, she considered the possibility of adopting.

She said: "Emotionally it was a roller-coaster. Every time I got pregnant I was hoping this was the one and it wasn't going to end in a miscarriage.

"I never gave up. I was desperate for a baby so I persevered."

The breakthrough came after the mother of her best friend read a newspaper article about Dr Hassan Shehata, who specialises in treating multiple miscarriages, and his work at Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust.

She contacted him for help in 2006 and was referred for treatment.

Dr Shehata said: "Eighteen miscarriages is a huge number. This is the most unusual case I've come across.

"You're more likely to win the lottery than have 18 miscarriages through bad luck. Therefore there must be an underlying cause."

A specialist test, available only at Epsom, in Liverpool and in Chicago in the United States, showed she was suffering from a fairly common problem, thought to affect about 15 per cent of women.

Miss Baker had high levels of a subtype of white blood cell, known as Natural Killer (NK) cells, which are responsible for protection from foreign viruses.

But because her NK cells were too aggressive they mistook the foetus for a foreign body and attacked it.

Dr Shehata's treatment, using steroids, starts before conception and the doses involved are higher than previously used.

Miss Baker fell pregnant for an 18th time but her troubles were not over. During the pregnancy it was discovered she was diabetic and the high sugar levels caused by the steroids resulted in another miscarriage.

Dr Shehata was able to adjust her levels of insulin and the next time her pregnancy was successful.

Miss Baker's stepmother, Janet Nobbs, 46, said: "When she lost the last one after the diabetes even my husband Graham was asking me when I was going to have that all-important talk with her and recommend it's time to give up.

"We still look at Raiya and think 'Is this real?"'

Dr Shehata and his team of six doctors have treated about 1,000 patients both on the NHS and privately since beginning the process in 2004.

His treatment resulted in an 80 per cent success rate for women suffering from high NK cell levels, he said.

The laboratory equipment to carry out the testing costs between £150,000 and £200,000, with each test an additional £200.

But the treatment itself – one 25mg tablet a day for two weeks before conception and 12 weeks after – costs just £20.

One in five women will have a miscarriage, one in 25 will have two, one in 100 will have three, one in 600 will have four and one in 15,000 will have five.